Savoirs ENS

Base metals in the Danish monetary system and Koldekilde on Bornholm

lundi 13 mai 2013

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Descriptif

Conférence donnée par Michael Märcher lors de la table ronde "Small change: bronze/copper coins from Antiquity to 19th c.", organisée dans le cadre de l'ANR DAMIN (La Dépréciation de l'Argent Monétaire et les relations Internationales) en partenariat avec le labex TransferS.

This paper is a survey of the role and production of base metal coins in the Danish monetary system in the 17-20th centuries. Focus is on the 19th century, when:

1) coin production was industrialized, which led to a massive increase in quality and quantity,

2) huge amounts of base metals were issued after the Danish state bankruptcy (a major monetary reform) in 1813 – enough to meet the everlasting and increasing demand?,

3) in the 1850s, bronze coinage replaced copper coinage, this was part of the Danish monetary policy in the 19th century, which should create a common, homogeneous, and unifying monetary system in the entire realm (the Kingdom of Denmark and the Duchies Schleswig and Holstein).

At the spring Koldekilde, on the Danish isle Bornholm, in the Baltic Sea, almost 500 small coins from the 17-20th century are found with metal detectors. An analysis of the coins’ metals, mints, and dates are integrated in the survey.